Teacher licensing: Napo slams media…Says report “fake news”

Education Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has dismissed media reports of the upcoming regime of teacher licensing in the country.

In an address during the 12th National Delegates Conference of National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) in Kumasi, the Minister said: “Since I became a minister, I have not on any public platform talked, spoken, asked anything about teacher licensing,”

The Manhyia South MP slammed the media for churning out what he described as “fake news”.

“The mischievousness of the press, we should all see. Go and check the dailies, 3 August 2014, national teaching council executive secretary makes a statement on teacher licensing. I’m happy all the unions say they are being engaged for a long time.

“Actually the council of the national teaching council was formed just about three weeks ago. How could it have been that the council says that they are starting teacher deployment? It is not true. But if we believe everything fake news producers will put out there, we would insult ourselves to death,” Dr. Opoku-Prempeh said.

The Ghanaian Times reported on 15 August 2017 that the National Teachers Council (NTC) of the Ministry of Education had announced that teachers will now have to pass a special examination before being granted a licence to teach.

The move, according to the NTC, as reported by the Ghanaian Times, is to enforce discipline and eliminate non-performing teachers from the system, in accordance with the new Teachers Licencing Policy under the Education Act 778 (2008).